


A Lucky Super Star

by who_won_the_race_back_home



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, mario kart either ends in kissing or tears there is no inbetween, video games - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-09
Updated: 2018-04-09
Packaged: 2019-04-20 20:27:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14268888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/who_won_the_race_back_home/pseuds/who_won_the_race_back_home
Summary: Zari used video games to cope with a new life on a strange time ship full of weirdos she had no intention of getting to know better, but then Amaya decided she wanted to learn to play too.





	A Lucky Super Star

**Author's Note:**

> Listen, all I want is an episode where Zari kicks everyone's ass at Mario Kart.

Before A.R.G.U.S., before spending every waking moment working and running and fighting, before she became illegal, Zari loved video games. Behrad had collected old systems, before those became illegal too, from scavenged parts and ebay, and when they were kids, had taught her how to play everything from Donkey Kong to Far Cry 6 (that one they didn’t tell their parents about). She learned the basics of hacking trying to break their code, enough to give her an advantage, or just to see what would happen if you slightly modified the physics engine (chaos, mostly, which drove Behrad nuts, until he learned that sometimes bouncing your character off every imaginable surface like a rag doll with a jetpack on was fun).

Then A.R.G.U.S. came and there weren’t video games to play anymore, except for those military simulations, or really any fun anything anymore. And then there was so much running and so much hiding, and suddenly Behrad was dead and Zari was living on a ship that _traveled through time_ with a bunch of weird strangers with superpowers. So she sucked it up and learned to deal with their, what she could really only describe as _hijinks_ , because even though she hadn’t quite figured out how yet, she was going to get them to save her brother’s life.

In the meantime though, Zari discovered that the ship could run pretty much every game ever made, and if she started at Pong and just kept working forward, she’d be able to keep herself distracted from thinking about everything too much.

Somewhere around Qbert Amaya started coming into her room unannounced, just to check in, trying to build on that mystical totem connection that Zari was uninterested in. But Amaya was magnetic, persistent, and kind in a way that Zari had not encountered in a very long time. Zari’s gruff exterior didn’t deter her, and by The Legend of Zelda, Amaya would plant herself on Zari’s couch, asking all sorts of questions about every game she was playing, sometimes leaning in close against her, and it didn’t take long for Zari to stop minding. Amaya’s questions were thoughtful, about lore and strategy, and most of the time, they had Zari thinking about the games in ways she had never considered.

(Well, except for the time Amaya walked in on Zari and Jax playing Mortal Kombat, just as Zari pulled Sub Zero’s fatality, ripping Jax’s spine out on screen. Amaya never asked any questions about that one, and Zari made it a point to not play the the most violent games with Amaya around).

And Amaya’s habit of pressing up against her, an arm draped over Zari’s folded knee, or sitting shoulder to shoulder, even though there was plenty of room on the couch, or Amaya’s feet resting on Zari’s lap as she stretched out, a hint of bare skin showing at her waist that Zari definitely didn’t catch out of the corner of her eye? Zari quickly started minding that less and less too. 

When she got to the first Final Fantasy, Zari let Amaya play it all the way through while she watched. Amaya had incredible hand eye coordination, but she hadn’t quite figured out how to translate it to video games, and besides, she said to Zari, defeating the first dungeon boss, she cared more about the stories anyway.

And while Amaya traversed dungeon after dungeon, trying to find enemies to level grind on, she asked Zari about Behrad, about her parents, life in 2042, her (many) arrests. Surprisingly, Zari found herself answering easily. A couple days into Amaya’s quest to defeat the Four Fiends, after having lost to some ridiculous monster for the fifth time, while Zari told her about a family vacation to San Francisco in 2020 that she barely remembered, Amaya kissed her, sweet and light enough that Zari wasn’t sure it was really happening. Amaya pulled away smiling after only a moment, picking up the controller to continue playing. It took Zari a second to gather her courage, but she took the controller from Amaya’s hands to pause the game, then kissed her back hard enough to press her into the couch. And Zari still felt Amaya smiling against her lips long minutes later, after they both had forgotten all about swords and dark magic spells.

(A few days later Amaya finished the game, Zari leaned against her with her head on Amaya’s shoulder. They both laughed at the time traveling final boss).

Eventually, Zari started skipping around a lot more, showing Amaya the games she and Behrad had played when they were young, Shadow of the Colossus, Beyond Good and Evil, even Tony Hawk. One night, after some ridiculous mission involving FDR and  Hatshepsut both ending up in the Weimar Republic, Zari decided to unwind with Super Mario Kart, which had been one of her brother’s favorites. He always picked Bowser, and she was always Toad and they both hated the Ghost Valley levels. She played a few rounds against Gideon, but it just wasn’t the same. It was hard to beat one of the most powerful AIs in all of time. Just as she was losing her seventh race against Gideon’s Peach, Amaya let herself in, sprawling unceremoniously next to Zari on the couch, tired after a long day in 1925 and rumpled in sweatpants and flannel she had borrowed from Zari.

“Do you want to play this one with me?” Zari asked. “It’s honestly not as fun with Gideon. No offense.”

“None taken, Miss Tomaz. I understand it must be frustrating to lose so many times in a row,” Gideon said, chipper as always.

Amaya barely contained her laughter, hiding her mouth with her hand, while Zari shot her a half-hearted glare.

“Sure,” Amaya said, stifling another giggle and taking the second controller. “What is it?”

“Mario Kart. All the Nintendo characters racing in go karts. Sometimes they throw stuff at each other.”

“Oh, Nathaniel told me about this one. It sounds...ridiculous.”

“It one hundred percent is, which is why it’s more fun to play with another person.”

Amaya picked Yoshi because he reminded her of Gertrude a little, and Zari gave her a quick tutorial on the controls. And once they started the game, Amaya was bad. Maybe even horrific. Even on one of the easier settings, she was consistently coming in last place, driving off the side of the track, into sand pits, and spinning out on banana peels.

“Wow, you’re really bad at this,” Zari said, gently nudging Amaya with her shoulder, after she had lost for the fifth time in a row.

Amaya huffed quietly. “I’ve never played before, and no car drives like this.”

“Because every other game you’ve played so far has been so true to life. No fight you’ve ever been in came with dropdown menus, but you figured that out.”

“Hush,” Amaya said, pushing Zari back. “Just pick the next level.”

Zari laughed and picked Rainbow Road, and if she was being honest, yes it was to be a little mean.

“Oh, this one looks nice,”Amaya said, thumb poised over the buttons.

“You say that now.”

As the countdown clock started, Amaya leaned forward to rest her arm on Zari’s thigh, looking like she was trying to focus as hard as she could on the race. But after the first lap, already in last place, with her thumb still on the gas, her other fingers began to drift casually along the seam of Zari’s jeans. Amaya kept her eyes forward, not acknowledging Zari as she shifted slightly with Amaya’s touch. It didn’t take long for Amaya to fall off the edge of the track, and with the few moments it took to reset her racer, she slipped her her hand more fully along Zari’s inseam, enough to cause Zari to hit one of the Thwomps and spin out, right over the edge and into the void. This gave Amaya enough time to surge ahead of her in the last lap, coming in fourth, while Zari ended in seventh. She turned to glare at Amaya.

“I can’t believe you.”

“What?” Amaya said, feigning innocence, but her grin happily gave her away.

“You know what. That was cheating and–“ Zari was cut off by Amaya’s kiss, searing and hot. She nipped at Zari’s bottom lip, before trailing her mouth down Zari’s jaw.

“Don’t be a sore loser,” Amaya said in between bites.

Zari pulled away, to keep herself from being distracted. “I am not a sore loser,” she said, as Amaya tried to duck back towards her throat.

Amaya kissed a path up Zari’s neck to her ear. “I was trained to use the opportunities presented to me, and you presented me an excellent opportunity,” she said, rough and low.

“To cheat,” Zari said after a hard swallow, Amaya’s hand beginning to wander back towards Zari’s thigh. “This is not going to make me forget about the cheating.”

Amaya chuckled. “You say that now.”

(Later, after a long while pressed against one another on the couch, soundtracked by 16 bit midi music that had them both giggling, they played through the night until Amaya could win fair and square).

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on tumblr at [angrypedestrian.](http://angrypedestrian.tumblr.com)


End file.
